Metrobus changes start Sunday

The transit authority is making changes in some bus routes beginning Sunday. The routes operate primary in the District and Northern Virginia.

The District

— Route 70 (Georgia Avenue-7th Street Line) will operate between Silver Spring and Archives Metrorail stations. During weekday peak periods, buses will operate every 10 minutes, rather than every 12 minutes, as under the old schedule. Route 71 will be discontinued.

— Route 74, a new route between the Washington Convention Center and the Southwest Waterfront will replace the southern portion of Routes 70 and 71. It will operate daily between 5 a.m. and 1 a.m., with service every 18 minutes during weekday peak periods and every 24 minutes at other times. Next Friday, the District plans to eliminate the Circulator bus that operates on a similar route about every 10 minutes.

— Routes 90, 92 and 93 (U Street-Garfield Line) will use a new type of schedule. On weekdays between 6 a.m. and 7 p.m., Route 90 will operate every 15 minutes between Anacostia Station and Duke Ellington Bridge Route 92 will operate every 15 minutes between Congress Heights station and 14th and U streets NW.

At stops served by both routes, buses should arrive about every seven or eight minutes. Metro says that supervisors will be on the streets to manage the operations and minimize the bunching up of the buses in heavy traffic.

— Two new afternoon weekday westbound trips will start on Route 32 (Pennsylvania Avenue Line), leaving Southern Avenue Metro station at 4:16 and 4:46 p.m. The buses will travel to Eastern Market.

* On Route H6 (Brookland-Fort Lincoln Line), several early morning trips will be adjusted to improve connections to Red Line trains at Brookland.

— All service on Route K1 (Takoma-Walter Reed Line) will be discontinued, now that the federal base realignment program has relocated staff and patients from Walter Reed Army Medical Center to Bethesda.

— Route N8 (Tenleytown-Glover Park Line) will be discontinued, because the ridership is too low.

— Route N2 (Massachusetts Avenue Line) will be rerouted between Friendship Heights station and Ward Circle as a partial replacement for Route N8.

— On Routes N3 and N4 (Massachusetts Avenue Line), several morning departures from the Friendship Heights station will be adjusted to reduce congestion at the bus terminal.

Special fare discontinued

Starting Sunday, the transit authority also is carrying out the plan to discontinue the special Anacostia fare. Fares will change from $1 to $1.50 for riders using SmarTrip and $1.70 for those paying cash.

This affects Routes 94, A2, A4, A5, A6, A7, A8, M8, M9, W2, W3, W6, W8 as well as for stops from Good Hope Road south on Routes 90, B2, P1, P2, P6 and U2. Riders transferring between bus and rail will not notice a fare change, because the SmarTrip discount for riders transferring at Anacostia or Congress Heights stations will increase from 50¢ to $1.

Virginia

These are the Metrobus changes affecting riders in Northern Virginia.

— Route 3Y (Lee Highway-Farragut Square) will be extended westward from Lee Highway and Woodrow/Albemarle streets to Lee Highway and George Mason Drive/Harrison Street. This will give more riders a direct trip to Farragut Square. Metro also will add two trips on weekday mornings and evenings.

Route 7A (Lincolnia-North Fairlington Line) via Landmark Center will be discontinued after 11 p.m. on weekends. Adjustments will be made to the schedule on several late-night trips leaving Lincolnia Road/Quantrell Avenue.